Airlines Niki Lauda selected to buy Niki

The decision was announced during a press conference in the early morning. A former decision of Lucas Flöther, the insolvency administrator in Germany who has decided to sell Niki to the IAG Group is no longer valid. After a court decision the insolvency administration has to be managed in Austria. This new insolvency administration has now decided to sell Niki to the founder Niki Lauda and its existing Austrian airline Lauda Motion GmbH.

Lauda will try to recommence operations in the next weeks. The existing AOC for its airline could have been an advantage for Lauda as IAG and its low cost subsidiary Vueling was forced to apply for a new Austrian AOC.

Lauda has founded Niki in 2003 and sold it to Air Berlin in 2011. The former Formula One champion plans to cooperate with the British travel company Thomas Cook and its German airline subsidiary Condor. Niki could continue operating charter flights to leisure destinations in Europe.

After the insolvency of Niki’s parent company Air Berlin, Lufthansa announced an interest in taking over the Austrian carrier. One day after Lufthansa announced to drop out of the negotiations due to signs from the European Commission that the merger would not be approved, Nik ceased operations on December 14, 2017. Two weeks later, IAG Group, a holding which owns British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus confirmed the acquisition of Niki. The carrier should have been integrated into the low cost carrier Vueling.